Finally became a member of BLADE and chose a division. I'm now a Curator! Whatever that means But at least it seems that you can switch things around later if you want. Sounds like a fun division anyway which still probably doesn't really limit what you can do so I'm not sure what the actual benefits are aside from certain team boosts I guess.

@VofEscaflowne
I picked Curator too! Seemed like a good mix of fighting powerful enemies and looking for new stuff. Like you I have to learn what being a member actually means, apart from the boosts, 'cause it feels like there should be more to it than that. Available sidequests and stuff, maybe?

EDIT: Not to start whining about stuff again, but does anyone find the new affinity chart a bit less easy to read than the old one? Is it even possible to know where/when to find certain characters anymore? NLA is pretty huge, at least compared to (the IMO much cosier) Colony 9, and I haven't learned where certain people usually hang out yet.

@r_hjort

I haven't checked the affinity chart yet... but I thought the game mentioned something about being able to track down people? Is there a way to pin them to the map maybe? I sure hope so cause that would be awesome. I know you can do that with sidequests and it seems to point you in the direction you need to go which is AWESOME.

But seriously, my jaw keeps dropping at the massive scale of just the first area. I'm scared to think of what the other areas will be. This is so big... and it just keeps getting more complex with the map layout. Very fun to just explore!

@VofEscaflowne
Ah, maybe it's connected to the map! I haven't looked at the map yet, although it seems awesome from what I've seen in vids and screens. Do you have to display the map on the Gamepad screen or what? I've got the game running on both screens since that's the only way I can get sound through the headphone jack on my Gamepad, so that might complicate things for me.

@r_hjort

Well you can go to your missions and choose your sidequests then have them be displayed as your yellow arrow quest that points where to go on the mini map. I haven't noticed if there's a way to do that for people though but I haven't checked for it either. I just got one sidequest so far.

@VofEscaflowne
Ah, I see. Good good! Maybe I should just boot the game up and see for myself so you don't have to be my personal FAQ.

@r_hjort

Maybe quests that involve finding out a character will automatically add them to your map via the yellow arrow? The affinity chart doesn't list any times when they're out so surely they're not purposefully making it worse than Xenoblade. At least I hope not

My wife still needs to clear a hard drive so we can download that loader pack thing, then we'll be off to Best Buy to pick this one up! Of course... I have Yoshi to play right now... So maybe this will wait until Christmas? Hmm.

Reyn, what is your opinion specifically of the time that it would be best to get the game?

@VofEscaflowne
Turns out that if your quest requires you to hunt someone down, the description will let you know roughly when and where to find them, and it seems the yellow marker can lead you to them as well, so I guess that's alright, even if I liked the ability to find people at any time by checking the affinity chart. Oh well.

After playing a few more hours, killing some tyrants, exploring new areas, doing some sidequests, dabbling in new classes, arts and equipments, and pushing the plot forward a tiny bit, I have to say the game is starting to feel amazing. Despite the world being so huge already the environments don't feel any less well crafted than those in Xenoblade, and Monolith seems to have put in an insane amount of time and effort in all the combat related stuff, and I haven't even got a Skell yet, so it's all very promising, IMO. The music is still utter shit at times , but other than that things are coming together now, I think.

Btw, am I the only that actually misses the fall damage from the first game? I feel it made exploration more tense and climbing around on top of giant structures more rewarding. I mean, I used lots of gems to reduce my fall damage, but I loved the risk/reward connected to climbing around.

Well, it's finally gonna happen. GameDadGrant is going to turn on his Wii U. For the first time in forever!

Got the Collector's Edition, the HUGE hard-cover Strategy Guide...this could be the start of something big.


Bask in the epic-ness of this photo!
Congrats, Xenoblade Chronicles X. You made the impossible, possible. although if it wasn't you, then it'd be FAST: Racing Neo next week.

@GameDadGrant
Does the strategy guide seem good? Looks good. I never use them while playing, but it's a really cool bonus!

My limited edition came with a nice looking steel book, a pretty cool poster of the cover art, a kind of sterile but informative looking map (far from the colourful SNES game maps I used to have on my wall back in the day) and an art book with lots of cool illustrations. Very happy with the package overall, but I think Last Story has it beat in terms of extra guff.

@r_hjort

I haven't even taken the plastic off the strategy guide yet.

That said, I also rarely use guides. I mostly got it for the extra artwork and stuff that these usually feature. Plus, it's so cool-looking! There's a lot to be said about hardcover books. Plus that cover just looks BOSS.

I was wondering if the strategy guide would be useful for keeping track of stuff. Let us know Grant!

My copy somehow screwed up shipping. It's in my state but won't arrive today like it was intended to. I'm not in my state till Sunday so I guess it doesn't matter.

@GameDadGrant
Yeah, it'll look sweet on your shelf!

DrFinkelstein said:

I was wondering if the strategy guide would be useful for keeping track of stuff. Let us know Grant!

Will do!

r_hjort said:

Yeah, it'll look sweet on your shelf!

You are correct, sir! I had the thought to put it next to my Collector's Edition of The Last Story, and see if anyone accidentally tries to pick up the box to The Last Story, thinking it is also a book. But then I remembered I don't usually have people around my bookshelf, and at best I'd be trolling my own family...likely only my wife.

..........

Still totally going to do it.

My brother is gifting me the physical copy he preordered (he couldn't wait and downloaded it), which stupidly bums me out because I want to shell out my own dollars and support this game PERSONALLY...but...money is super tight right now and it's a free copy he bought anyway so...why not. Sigh.

Anyways I got to see a bit beyond the intro and the big reveal of the world and I was pretty stunned by it all. I'm surprised the game seems to offer little to no tutorial. I mean they really just throw you in there! I remember Xenoblade having a tutorial, did it not?

The voices so far seem to work, they're not BAD, but they're also nothing really special.... I'll have to watch the cut scenes in Japanese some time just to see what I missed. I'm so hurt by this but I'll have to get over it. I wanna play this game either way, it just sucks that Japanese voices was one of the big presentational aspects I was looking forward to the most.

World and creature design looks especially impressive and detailed, and I also really dig the character models so I have no idea what the hyperbolic bitching is about online. I guess sheep gonna sheep.

But I'll be able to play properly myself with headphones on my own TV come early next week, so I look forward to that.

I put in about 2 hours or so this evening. Got far enough to choose which division I was going into. I'm just looking forward to game world opening up to me now that I've got past the early sections.

Quick search says that I DON'T need to play Xenoblade before playing this game, in the sense that they aren't RELATED at all? Is this true? Possibly saving me about 4 months here. And I'd be able to start this game TONIGHT. I'll check back after BOND, assuming I'm still AWAKE.

@Mr_Mustache It appears that the games are kind of like Final Fantasy in that they have similar elements and themes but it's a whole new story. Appears, though obviously I haven't played to the end so who knows.

But Xenoblade is one of the best RPGs ever, you should play it anyway.

@Zero

Well, I plan to, but I'm like..."hours" in. I'm not anywhere even close to the end, let alone the midpoint.

I'll get around to it someday; looks like I'll get to enjoy a game of this caliber at launch, first time in quite some time.
(ie: slogged through Bayonetta 1 before getting to soak in the spectacle that is Bayonetta 2.)